OCZ has announced the new Deneva 2 series of enterprise SSDs that will now include 2.5-inch, 6Gbps SATA III models that feature 19nm NAND Multi-Level Cell (MLC) flash paired up with LSI's Sandforce SF-2281 controller, as well as an improved power architecture that will bring the superior storage performance, endurance, reliability as well as excellent total cost of ownership, something that is quite important in the enterprise industry.

In addition to the new 19nm NAND flash process geometry, the new Deneva 2 series will also feature a new power architecture designed from the ground up in order to optimize server back plane functionality. Based on the popular LSI Sandforce SF-2281 controller now paired up with 19nm toggle mode NAND MLC flash chips, the new Deneva 2 SSDs will offer read and write performance of up to 550MB/s and 520MB/s with random 4K read and write performance of up to 45K and 34K IOPS.

Daryl Lang, SVP of Product Management at OCZ technology noted that Deneva 2 SSD series has already been popular among IT professionals for enterprise applications as OnLine Transaction Processing, database warehousing, read intensive data caching and server boot-ups and that latest NAND flash process will deliver optimal balance of I/O performance and cost-efficiency for customers.

To be available in 120, 240 and 480GB capacities the new Deneva 2 series will also feature data fail recovery, intelligent block management, wear leveling and robust error correction as well as lower power consumption.

It seems that Reuters is getting ready for Windows 8 to be a big turkey by dusting off an old yarn about how the OS will fail because businesses are not going to be early adopters.

“There was once a time when the launch of a new Windows operating system was a huge deal for the technology departments in many businesses. Not anymore. Microsoft Corp's release of Windows 8 on Friday is likely to be a non-event for most companies -- and some experts say many may never adopt it,” a Reuters hack tapped onto his iMac. They have a point, businesses will be slow to adopt Windows 8 and a large chunk of them will stick to Windows XP until you prise it from their cold dead hands.

But that is what always happens. Corporates are rarely bleeding edge adopters of any operating system. It does not mean that Windows 8 is going to be a turkey, it might well be Microsoft's next Vista, but you are not going to tell by looking at corporate adoption.

A corporate who rolls out a new operating system before it has bedded in is asking for a shedload of headaches it does not need. Windows 7 is stable enough for most businesses and those who do upgrade from XP do have a place to go. Where Reuters gets things right however is that Microsoft it its bid to push into the consumer market might have left out businesses from their equation all together.

Doug Johnson, head of risk management policy at the American Bankers Association, whose members are among the world's biggest technology buyers is quoted as saying that Windows 8 is more of a consumer platform than it is a business platform, so it's not something that makes any sense from a business perspective.

Toshiba has updated its line of enterprise class hard disk drives with the new AL13SE series. Packed in a 2.5-inch form factor the new AL13SE series will be available in capacities ranging from 300 to 900GB.

The exact dimensions of the new AL13SE series are set at 69.85x100.45x15.00mm (WXDXH) and the drives weigh in at 240 grams. The entire series feature SAS 2.0 6Gbps interface, rotational speed of 10,500 RPM, 64MB of cache, 3.7 and 4.1ms of average read and write seek time and 4.7W/2.7W load/idle power consumption.

As noted, the series will feature four drives im 300, 450, 600 and 900GB capacities. Although it did not provice any specific performance details, Toshiba did note that due to an improved magnetic recording head and disc magnetic layer, the AL13SEB900 (900GB model) has an areal density of 856Mbit/mm2, which is currently the industry's highest class, and has an internal transfer rate of 286MB/s, a boost of around 32 percent over previous generation, thanks to the improved liner recording density.

Toshiba was also keen to note that it AL13SE series is frist HDD series from Toshiba to employ a dual-stage head position actuator that improves accuracy by 30 percent providing sstable operation and that AL13SE series has around 41 percent higher energy consumption efficiency when compared to previous generations.

Unfortunately, the price or the actual availability date have not been announced.

For years RIM has flogged its Blackberry's to business on the basis that it was more secure because it went across an encrypted network. Now it looks like the Galaxy S IIIs will sport the company's SAFE (Samsung Approved For Enterprise) branding in an attempt to ingratiate their shiny new Android handset with business types and IT admins.

The enterprise-friendly versions of the toys will find their way to all five of the carriers that will sell the Galaxy S III in the US. There is no word if they will be seen in the EU yet.

The AES-256 encryption, Exchange ActiveSync, VPN capabilities, and "support for 338 IT policies" should make the phones more useful for enterprises. This is the last refuge point for the troubled RIM.

Although we honestly did not doubt it, OCZ's SSD lineup at Computex, which kicks off in a few days on June 5th, may end up being quite impressive. According to OCZ, we will see a whole set of new SSDs, including enterprise ones based on Everest 2 controller, new one based on Kilimanjaro controller, as well as a first external SSD that features Thunderbolt interface.

When it comes to enterprise market solutions, OCZ plans to show the new Intrepid SSD, simply an enterprise version of Vertex 4, since it is based on the same Everest 2 controller with SATA 6Gbps interface. According to first details, Intrepid 3 should provide over 100k IOPS and feature highly improved reliability. In addition to the Intrepid 3, OCZ is also expected to showcase a new Z-Drive R5 based on the Kilimanjaro controller co-developed with Marvell. The Z-Drive R5 will, of course, feature a PCI-Express interface and is also a part of enterprise lineup.

When it comes to consumer parts, well sort of, OCZ is expected to show its "Lightfoot" external SSD solution that will feature Thunderbolt interface with up to 10Gb/s data transfer rate. Of course, this one will most likely be aimed at professionals with deep pockets rather than mere mortals, but it will certainly be interesting to at least see it. According to OCZ, it will be available in capacities starting at 128GB and all the way up to 1TB.

In any case, OCZ's Computex lineup certainly sounds interesting and we are looking forward to see how well these announced SSDs actually perform.

Toshiba has updated its line of enterprise hard disk drives with two new models, the MK01GRRB and the MK01GRRR, both packing 300GB of capacity squeezed into a 2.5-inch form factor. Although the 300GB doesn't sound that much bear in mind that these drives have a 15,000 RPM spin speed.

The only difference that we can see regarding the specs of the MK01GRRB and the MK01GRRR is that the latter one has features self-encryption technology. As far as the other specs go, both models feature a top capacity of 300GB, 6.0Gbps interface and 15.000 RPM spin speed, something that you don't see everyday in an average 2.5-inch HDD.

Of course, in order to keep the power consumption at lowest possible value, these drives feature an enhanced power condition state that reduces drive spin in idle state. Both models should start to ship in volume in Q1 2012. Despite Toshiba's claim that they are the first ones with such a drive, Seagate also has its Savvio HDD series with similar, if not identical, specs.

Intel has announced a new range of 710 series solid-state drives, and has targeted them as a replacement to hard drives in enterprise servers.

The 100-300 GB capacity drives replace the previous X25-E SSDs, which were also targeted at enterprises. However they have 30 times more endurance which has been one of the factors that has slowed the replacement of harddrives with SSDs.

That and price. These drives have prices starting at$649 for the 100GB version to $1,929 for the 300GB drive.

The drives are multilevel cell SSDs, which store bits of data at multiple levels in each cell. Intel insists that they also provide the endurance of typical single-level cell SSDs, where a bit of data is stored per cell. SLCs are considered faster and more reliable than MLCs.

The Intel SSD 710 includes a technology called High Endurance technology, which combines firmware enhancements, management features and algorithms to reduce data errors.